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Spanish Mortgage Lending news 2012

Reports out today have confirmed the situation on lending in Spain has deteriorated further.

Despite taking advantage of the European Central Banks cheap bonds issued over the last few months the Banks in Spain have chosen to buy sovereign debt with these funds rather than to lend to the residential and commercial sectors.

Data shows that mortgage lending in Feb 2012 was down 9.4% from the previous month and a whopping 47.1% down from the same month the previous year.
Interest rates were up year on year by 17.3% at an average granted rate of 4.54%.

These figures include lending to the resident and nonresident market and also lending given by Banks where their own stock is being bought. This suggest lending for independent properties is down even further and average rates being offered for the purchase of an independent property are even higher.

All Banks plan to contract their lending books this year in an effort to meet new balance sheet and provisioning requirements.

At IMS our completions over the same periods for non residents show that completions for us are up 28% year on year with January and Februarys 2012 figures being very similar with a slight increase in February over January rather than the national average of a 9.4% decline.

Average granted rates were 4%.

Whilst the Banks remain cautious this is evidence that with the right research, experience and presentation of packaged applications the trend can still be bucked.